Bush: No "Magic Wand" To Lower Gas Prices
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush said on Tuesday there was no "magic wand" to bring down record-high fuel prices but would consider a proposal to suspend federal gasoline taxes this summer -- an idea that has divided the 2008 presidential candidates.
Trying to calm anxious Americans facing $3.60 a gallon gasoline and soaring grocery bills, Bush again prodded Congress to open an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling and allow construction of more nuclear and coal plants.
"I firmly believe that, you know, if there was a magic wand to wave, I'd be waving it, of course," he said during a news conference. "I've repeatedly submitted proposals to help address these problems, yet time after time Congress chose to block them."
Crude oil prices have surged more than five-fold since 2002, heaping more pressure on a waning U.S. economy besieged by dropping home values and rising food prices.
Oil prices are up nearly 25 percent since the start of 2008, logging a record near $119.93 a barrel this week, and gasoline prices are above the key $4 a gallon mark in some U.S. cities like San Francisco.
Giant U.S. oil company Exxon Mobil Corp will report its quarterly profits this week, after ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch Shell and BP all reported quarterly profit increases from a year ago.
Presumed Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton have both endorsed suspending an 18.4 cent per gallon federal gasoline tax this summer, but fellow Democratic hopeful Barack Obama has argued that it would make little difference.
Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, has used the gas tax issue to differentiate herself from Obama, an Illinois senator, as they fight ahead of the nominating contests in Indiana and North Carolina next week.
Bush said he was willing to consider suspending gasoline taxes.
"We'll let the candidates argue out their ideas," Bush said. "If it's a good idea, we embrace it. If not, we're analyzing the different ideas coming forward."
However, Bush again rebuffed calls from U.S. lawmakers to suspend filling the nation's emergency oil stockpile to boost supplies -- saying that U.S. reserve shipments amount to one-tenth of 1 percent of global oil demand.
Senate Democrats are pursuing legislation that would bar the federal government from socking away oil until prices fall, and 16 Republican senators on Tuesday said oil shipments should stop. All three presidential hopefuls support such a move.
"I support an immediate halt in the deposits of domestic crude into the (oil reserve) as we enter the busiest driving season of the year," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Texas Republican.
Democrats also slammed Bush, arguing oil from the Alaska refuge would not produce oil for a decade. "And it's estimated that if they drilled (there) in 20 years it would reduce the price one penny," said New York Sen. Charles Schumer.
Bush has repeatedly called on OPEC -- source of about a third of global oil supplies -- to boost production to tame record prices, but so far cartel members have rejected output hikes.
Bush declined to say whether he will pressure Saudi Arabia -- OPEC's top exporter -- to boost output when he visits the kingdom next month.
"To your question on the Saudis, look, I have made the case that, you know, the high price of oil injures economies," Bush said. "But I think we better understand that there's not a lot of excess capacity in this world right now."
---If this cat would call up his buddies and tell them to tone it down because it would help the GOP in this election year, I'm sure they would. I really hope McCain has a great insurance plan and a semi-young VP to take over when his hip dysplacia starts acting up again. Bush is a bum! think about it....
Gamers Line Up For Release of GRAND THEFT AUTO IV
NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Grand Theft Auto 4" went on sale Tuesday, with fans lining up at midnight to grab the first copies of the criminal action game hailed as a brutal and satirical masterpiece equal to films like "The Godfather."
Retailers such as GameStop Corp and Best Buy Co Inc took advance orders for the game weeks earlier and many outlets threw open their doors at midnight to accommodate fans eager to be among the first to play.
The launch of "Grand Theft Auto 4" is expected to be the biggest entertainment event of the year, with first-week sales forecast to be up to $400 million, beating those of last year's "Halo 3" from Microsoft Corp.
At a GameStop store in midtown Manhattan, excited fans like John Alba and Enmanuel Lorenzo had been standing for hours in a line that nearly reached the end of the block to get their hands on the game.
"It gives you the opportunity to escape reality," Alba said. "This game has everything -- sex, drugs, cars, money ... anything you want."
"Grand Theft Auto 4" casts players as an Eastern European immigrant who runs drugs, shoots cops and beats up prostitutes after falling in with a crime syndicate -- stuff that has drawn fire from family groups and politicians.
Avid fans like Lorenzo seemed drawn to the excitement -- but only in game play. "Violence is like sex. It sells," Alba said outside the GameStop shop. "I like violence in games, it's cool. Not in real life."
DELAYED RELEASE A "SMART MOVE"
Judging from early reviews, "Grand Theft Auto 4" -- the latest version of the hit franchise made by Take-Two Interactive Software Inc's Rockstar studio -- appears on track to be the best-rated video game ever and one that could cement video games as a serious art form.
Its release, originally scheduled for October last year, was pushed back until Tuesday mostly due to technological hurdles.
But some viewed the late release positively.
"I think that it was actually a very smart move on their part to move it back because it gave a lot of people an opportunity to upgrade their systems to the next gen., so now there's actually a bigger chance of people going out and grabbing this game," said Chris Arsada, general manager of a GameStop store in Los Angeles.
"'Grand Theft Auto IV' is a violent, intelligent, profane, endearing, obnoxious, sly, richly textured and thoroughly compelling work of cultural satire disguised as fun," The New York Times said.
New York fans pointed to the game's graphics, music, its multi-player feature and importantly, its location in "Liberty City" -- a fictional setting that resembles New York City -- as reasons they found the game racy.
"The story line is probably one of the best, its more realistic," said Carlos Garcia, a Brooklyn resident who was at the GameStop store in Manhattan.
"MODERN-DAY MASTERPIECE"
Based on more than a dozen reviews compiled by Metacritic, a widely tracked aggregator of gaming reviews, the version of GTA4 for Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 game console has scored a perfect 100, while that for Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 achieved a 99.
For LA gamer Johnny Cervantes, it was all about "Very good graphics, better strip club scenes, multi-world play, multiplayer, very excited for that, multiplayer."
"Rockstar's magnum opus is a modern-day masterpiece that could change the way the world views video games," gaming news and reviews Web site GameSpy wrote, awarding the game a perfect five-star rating.
"You'll quickly come to realize that the nuanced story telling and presentation is on par with the finest films by directors like Martin Scorcese or Francis Ford Coppola."
Shares of Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two rose 1 percent on Monday, helped by the positive early reaction.
That could help the company's bargaining position as it faces a $2 billion takeover offer from rival Electronic Arts Inc.
Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick has rejected EA's offer as too low and insisted on waiting until after the game's launch before entering discussions.
---I can't wait for this to drop and I'm not even a gamer! this is one of those games I can play after a long day of putting up with pig vomit!
